Around the holidays I decided to try making chocolate mousse. I went online, found a few recipes, and decided to give it a shot. I mixed everything together, put the “mousse” in the fridge, and waited for it to thicken.

It never did.

I’d planned on making challah French toast and figured that I might as well put the “mousse” (that never was) to good use as a custard. Thus chocolate challah French toast was born.

I love baked ziti but I really only get a craving for it once every few years.

The craving hit recently and I realized that while I’ve made other dishes that are far more complicated, I’d never actually made baked ziti. Up until that point, the only ziti I’d had was either prepared by my mom or something I had at a restaurant. I decided to change that and finagled a baked ziti recipe based on what I’d seen my mom put in baked ziti along with a few of my own touches added in.